...the elitist talking head Idiots on TV.
Right, the stimulus and budget bills are exactly like Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme and greedy hedge fund operators incomprehensible financial instruments. Ok.
As for Fineman, I can't help but scream at the TV when I see this kind of commentary, "what do you mean we, jackass?" Here we have wealthy, elite celebrities incessantly complaining that the American people aren't being asked to sacrifice enough. As if a huge number aren't losing their homes and their jobs --- or are desperately afraid they are going to. As if virtually every average worker who was saving for their retirement isn't looking at a decimated savings. As if average people aren't being crushed by the costs of college and health care and debt they built up over years of income stagnation just to keep from falling behind. Yes, Americans have spent too much.
But that spending is what propped up this bubble (or succession of bubbles) for years and nobody was telling them to do otherwise. In fact it was the opposite --- you were a sucker if you didn't get in the game.
And Jesus H. Christ, do these people really believe that the way to save the economy is for the government to punish average citizens some more in the name of "shared sacrifice?" Somehow, I don't think the shared sacrifice is defined in quite the same way for the average middle class American as it is for Chris Matthews and his pals.
Fineman, like so many of his fellows, is obsessed with this idea that the American people have to make "hard choices" --- which translates into "entitlement" reform and reining in government spending, both of which are completely out of the question in this environment for both economic and moral reasons.
It's easy for him to say it with such pious certainty. He's wealthy. It's understandable that he and all of his friends are concerned about their future, as everyone is, but that just isn't on the same level of suffering and insecurity as those who are cutting back on their groceries or having to negotiate with their doctors over which tests they can afford to get to find out if they have cancer...read on
